Regulations and fees:
1. The NRC is required by law to recover approximately 90% of its annual budget from the companies and people that we provide services to (e.g., applicants for NRC licenses, NRC licensees, etc). The two main laws that govern NRC’s fee recovery are called the Independent Offices Appropriation Act of 1952 (IOAA), and the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended (OBRA-90).
2. Does the NRC get all of its funding from the fees that it charges?
No, we receive all of our funding from Congress. As required by law, we then collect approximately 90% of our budget from the fees that we charge over the course of the year, and that money is given back to the U.S. Treasury. This is called “cost recovery”
https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/licensing/general-fee-questions.pdf
Is is cheaper and easier to develop nuclear reactors in other countries.
As China option fades, Bill Gates urges U.S. to take the lead in nuclear power, for the good of the planet
Gates acknowledged that tighter U.S. export restrictions, put in place by the Trump administration, have virtually ruled out TerraPower’s grand plan to test its traveling-wave nuclear technology in China.
“But solar and wind are intermittent, and we are unlikely to have super-cheap batteries anytime soon that would allow us to store sufficient energy for when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing,” he wrote. “Besides, electricity accounts for only 25 percent of all emissions. We need to solve the other 75 percent too.”
“Unfortunately, America is no longer the global leader on nuclear energy that it was 50 years ago. To regain this position, it will need to commit new funding, update regulations, and show investors that it’s serious.”